What (not) to wear

I'm hopelessly sentimental. In addition to a lot of other stuff, I have kept nearly all of my papers from kindergarten through graduate school. This legal pad is one of the more interesting things I've kept.

This pad is filled with day after day of what I planned to wear to school when I was a sophomore or junior in high school in the late 70's, just about the same age Daughter is right now. I remember writing all of this out so that *gasp* I wouldn't repeat an outfit without letting sufficient time pass.

It's a real kick for me to read this, since I remember most of these clothes (and actually still have a few of the items packed away). The "black gypsy dress" was particularly stylish. And how about those cowl necks? I hated them then and still do. "Gabs" refers to gabardine pants. I'm thinking those were kind of stretchy. (We're not going to dwell on that.) And Gunny Sacs smocks...remember those?

The stars referred to PE days. On those days, I'd have to wear something that I could easily remove without completely messing up my Farrah Fawcett hair. Mind you, it took at least an hour every morning to style it.

Now, as dramatic as it gets around here with a teenage daughter in the house, I have to pity my poor parents trying to survive their only child's list-making teenage years. Methinks this was a little extreme.

Thankfully, I've relaxed just a tad. These days, I no longer have to let sufficient time pass between outfit wearings. In fact, I'd pretty much wear the same thing every day if I could get away with it.

Jeans or shorts, sweatshirt, Born shoes or sandals. A short, short list.

Oh, and no PE.

In the blink of an eye...

...she turns 15 today.

And she hasn't changed a bit.

She's the light of our life and
loved beyond measure.

Happy Birthday!

Random musings on a Saturday

I don't normally post random thoughts on a Saturday, but seeing that I'm procrastinating on a few projects, it seems a particularly good day for it. Here's another list of completely scattered thoughts, in no particular order, and of questionable importance:

* Bind-it-All is in da house! I used a gift certificate for this little machine and brought it home yesterday. Because I'm tool-impaired, I had to test out our store's demo first to be sure I could actually operate the thing. I passed that test, so home it came. Looking forward to binding anything and everything.

* Curl-defining shampoo is a good thing. But if you're my spouse, you should not be using it. You have no curls, dude.

* What's the deal with cats and plastic grocery bags?

* Reading The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker has been enjoyable so far. I think I now know what I don't like about my space. I've determined that I'm organized, but not inspired.

* They still use the word "cobbler" to refer to a person who repairs shoes. Would be kinda cool to have the name of your job also be that of a tasty dessert.

* The Making Memories sewing kit appears to be made for elves. It includes six spools of thread, each one small enough to fit inside your nostril. Not recommending that. Just an observation.

* Why the heck do I have a Making Memories sewing kit anyway?

* I want to live in an old elementary school. I am completely serious! I think it would be the perfect space for me...huge art room, library, classrooms, wood floors... Just can't seem to get the rest of the family to buy into this.

* "Subprime" has been voted the 2007 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society. While it has an obvious financial connotation, I heard in a commentary (on NPR, of course) that it apparently snagged the top spot because it is also used to describe anything that is below par. Personally, I would have voted for "lolcat," which was a winner in the "most creative" word category. In case you missed it, the 2006 Word of the Year was "to pluto" (verb) as in "to be plutoed", which means to be demoted or devalued. (I'm sure ya'll remember that sad day when Pluto was demoted from planet status.) So there ya go.

* This American Life is undoubtedly one of the best programs on NPR. You can hear it every Saturday around here or on the web anytime. It was through this show that I was first introduced to one of my all-time favorite writers, David Sedaris. But whether the subject du jour is humorous or serious, I love the pacing, format, and thought-provoking nature of this program.

* Sock monkey memo boards are available here for the low, low price of $99.95. Thanks to my friend, Connie, for this helpful referral. (If you missed it (and you probably did), I recently purchased some sock monkey jammies, to the horror of my family and some of my friends.)

* Nasal irrigation may be good for stopping a runny nose, but I'm not tryin' it. I don't care how runny my nose may be. Just so ya know, it's not runny right now. I'm just taking a position on it now, before anybody gets any wild ideas.

'Nuff said. Now back to work.

Ye of little faith

You know who you are! I'm surrounded by naysayers who tell me that Lily cannot learn to ring a bell for her food. Apparently, some people think that cats can't (or won't allow themselves to) be trained. Well, I'm out to prove those skeptics wrong! :-)

After careful analysis, I concluded that Lily didn't care for the jingle bells in the bag. So I stopped at Staples to look at alternative bells. Initially, I examined the red Easy Button, which retails for around $4.50. I considered asking the sales associate if a cat could operate it, but I wasn't sure she would know the answer to that question. Then I realized that I could push the button through the packaging. One test and I could tell that Lily would not be able to handle it. And I was pretty sure I couldn't handle hearing that guy's voice saying, "That was easy" when, in fact, cat training isn't easy at all.

So I opted for a desk bell, which cost only a little bit more. It's easy to ring and cheerful to hear, so I'm positive that it is going to make her training go much more smoothly. When she wants to eat, she should just tap the bell with her paw.

She hasn't quite started doing that yet. Right now, when I ring the bell, Lily hides and Tinsel comes running.

That's a start, right?

Feline Friday: This is what can happen...

...at the end of a long week
with too much caffeine,
a box of old baby clothes,
and two unsuspecting felines.

Good times. :-)

Cat training underway

OK, today I decided that Lily should learn to ring a bell for her food.

You see, one of the owners of the store where I teach just got a new puppy. She has been training the puppy to signal when she needs to be let outside by ringing a bell. The bell is hanging in a bag near the front door. When the puppy rings the bell, it's apparently quite cute.

Well, gosh darn it, Lily is smart, too! She could surely learn to ring a bell for food! After all, she is always hungry. And she already knows to scrape the wall with her sharp claws when she wants food, and sure enough, I come running. (Wait -- maybe I'm the trainable one...)

Anyway, today I put a few jingle bells into a bag and positioned them near her food bowl. Over and over, I put Lily's paw on the bag. "Ring the bell!" I would say pleasantly each time. And when she jingled the bells, she got a morsel of food.

But Miss Lily, smart as she may be, wouldn't ring the bell on her own. For whatever reason, this has been a difficult concept for her to grasp. Tinsel, on the other hand, hears the bell and comes running, but she won't touch the bag either.

Finally this evening, Lily bumped the bag a few times with her paw. I could not tell if she was mentally making the connection between the bell and the food or just moving it out of the way. Clearly, this is not a skill that can be learned in a single day.

After working on this little experiment, I think perhaps I need to get a different kind of bell. Here's why: When I throw treats to Lily, she always smacks them to the floor with her paw. If we had one of those bells that sits on a counter, I think she'd be all over it. The constant "DING! DING! DING!" might get a bit irritating, though.

Daughter suggested that I just post a sign: Please ring for service. We'll try that tomorrow.

Tagged!

I’ve been tagged by Sarah! Here we go:

1. Name your 2 favorite scrapbooking topics: travel, cats

2. What are the 2 best places you've been to? Paris, Vancouver Island, but can I name more? Chincoteague Island (Virginia), Seattle, Maine, England, Switzerland...

3. Name 2 things you do every day: check my e-mail, listen to NPR

4. Tell us 2 things that pretty much everyone knows about you. I have a daughter and two cats.

5. 2 places you wish to visit: Galapagos Islands, Himalayan Mountains, but can I name more? Antarctica, Tahiti, back to Paris....I could go on and on!

6. 2 things you may not know about me are: I’m an only child and only grandchild (on one side of my family), I hate water

7. 2 nicknames you've had at some time in your life: Jan (but almost everyone calls me that, so maybe it’s not a nickname), JP

8. Name 2 of your favorite drinks: Diet Coke, Starbucks caramel lattes with whip and caramel drizzle (heated to 170 degrees, thank you very much)

9. The question I’m adding is this: What are 2 interesting (in a good or bad way) jobs you’ve had in your life?

In college, I took a few jobs through a temp agency. One day, I had to wait tables in a dinner theater. I took drink orders for a table of retired ladies and decided not to write any of it down (I have no idea why). Well, I couldn’t remember half of the drinks, then they turned out the lights in the theater and I couldn’t find my way back to the table. As I stumbled around with my tray of drinks, I spilled all over one of the ladies. Needless to say, that job lasted only one day. I also was an temporary office manager for a surgeon and got to assist one day with a hemorroidectomy. (No further details about that will be shared! I assure you: You do NOT want to know!)

Notice a theme? :-) All of the questions have 2 in them. Answer the questions, add one question of your own (this tag started with 4 questions) and then tag 2 people. Simple enough?

I'm tagging Darcey and Toners

I'm looking forward to seeing your answers!

Heavy metal

Today I am taking a quick break from our normally sophisticated blogging discourse to talk about three metal things that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE:

#1) Loose-leaf metal rings!

I have quite a collection of rings and I use them for binding all sorts of things...cards, postcards, mini-albums, plastic bags filled with floss (no, not dental floss--embroidery floss!) ...you name it!

I buy them by the box at my local office supply store. I usually get the box of assorted sizes, ranging from 1" up to 2". At the Midwest Scrapbooking Convention where I taught this fall, I ran across a vendor selling the tiniest loose-leaf rings I'd ever seen: less than 3/4"! So of course I had to buy a few of those to keep on hand. 'Cuz you just never know when you might have something really tiny to bind.

#2) Beaded ball chains!

A close second to my beloved loose-leaf rings, chains are also great for binding various things together, or just for dangling assorted doo-dads from a tin, mini-album, or other project.

You can find ball chains in various lengths in the jewelry making department at Hobby Lobby. They are very inexpensive and fun to have on hand. Just like loose-leaf metal rings, you can't have too many of these.

#3) 7 Gypsies ATC Spinner!

Until today, I didn't know if I'd actually get my hands on one of these, but sure enough, I happened to be at Memory Bound when freight came in. So I snagged one!

I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but for now, I'm content just to admire its cute factor.

Edited to add: If you don't know what an ATC Spinner looks like when it's full, take a look at this one by Ali Edwards.

OK, that's all I have to say about awesome metal things that bind and spin. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Let's talk typography

It may be a sad commentary on the state of my life, but I spend a fair amount of time thinking about typography.

Typography is the technical term for the style, arrangement, size, and weight of a font used in any type of visual design, whether it be an advertisement, a magazine article, a card, or a scrapbook page. In addition to playing a critical role in contributing to the desired “feel” of a design, type can also be used to organize space and provide structure.

A carefully selected font can get you miles closer to your design goals by suggesting or supporting a particular theme or style. For example, when I see this font (Candice), I immediately think of the 70's. This one (Decotech) takes me to the Art Deco period (think: Tomorrowland at Disneyworld).

In general, I've found that I tend to prefer sans serif fonts, although I use all kinds. "Serifs" are the little "caps" at the ends of letters. Fonts with serifs tend to be more traditional (a good example is Times New Roman). Sans serif fonts don't have caps on the ends of the letters and lend a more contemporary feel (see Gill below). Here are just a few of my current favorites (most of these are available free via Microsoft Office or web download):

Microsoft Gill Sans MT – You can’t beat a good sans serif font for a clean, modern look. This is my basic journaling font, for scrapbooking and any kind of writing.

Berlin Sans FB - Also a sans serif font, but a bit more rounded. This font was inspired by the first-ever sans serif font created in the 1920's. Good for a retro kind of look.

Desyrel - A very casual, realistic-looking handwriting font.

Futura - This is the font used for the "Studio" QuicKutz alphabet. Tall and thin.

Impact - A nice chunky font, great for a contemporary title.

Wendy Medium - Another casual handwriting font, just a bit elegant. Love this for titles and captions.

Willow - One of my favorite fonts for achieving an "arts and crafts", Frank Lloyd Wright kind of feel.

So which fonts speak to you? Which ones do you use over and over? Let's talk typography.

Feline Friday: It was a cold and snowy day...

...the kind of day where you you wear two pairs of fuzzy pink socks and drink General Foods International Coffee (Hazelnut or French Vanilla but not Irish Cream) just to stay warm.

The wind howled fiercely. The snow drifted against the side of the house. And although it was 72 degrees inside, just looking out the window made you shiver.

Yes, it was on this very kind of day that our heroine, Miss Lily, hovered over the furnace vents. Occasional wisps of warm air wafted upward, providing welcome (albeit fleeting) relief from the bitter cold.

Hours passed and our Lily huddled on the carpet next to the new vent (source: Home Depot). She was hanging limply over it, nearly frozen to the bone, when suddenly she noticed that her claw (the only one that wasn't completely encased in ice) fit precisely into the metal grid work. With her last modicum of strength, our heroine gave a quick flick of the wrist and removed the entire vent, flinging it casually to the side.

At last, warm air flowed freely to her face. Dreams of hot summer days (specifically, that really hot day in the pig barn at the state fair cat competition when she didn't have an adequate fan) flooded her mind. Miss Lily became drowsy, almost drugged with the currents of warm air blowing tropically through her whiskers.

"If only I could get closer to the source of this warmth," she mused quietly to herself, her eyes wide and glassy with anticipation.

"Why, there's a pretty silver tunnel! Where does it lead? Perhaps I'll follow it. I think I can fit..."

* * * * *

Was our heroine brave enough to go where no feline (in this house, anyway) has gone before?

Or did all of those gingerbread cookies make her too wide to fit in the tunnel?

Did Nice Furnace Repair Guy have to make an emergency trip to the house?

Or did the homeowners secure all of the vents to the carpet with clear packing tape?

Stay tuned, friends, for the answers to these questions and many more (that you probably didn't even know you had), as we follow the adventures of our fearless feline heroine, Miss Lily, and her fearful sidekick, Tinsel, in 2008.

Random musings for this week

It's the end of the holiday season, and I've collected a few new random musings (which may or may not be seasonal in nature) for our collective perusal and reflection. Be forewarned (Spouse, I'm talking to you) that this is yet another blog post without a point. Readers are encouraged to make their own points.

* Watch HGTV these days and you're bound to learn about Mighty Putty. You slice off this stuff like you'd cut through a hot dog, warm it up in your hand, then stick it to whatever needs stuck. Mighty Putty sticks handles to cups, repairs aquariums, and even sticks shelves to walls. Mr. Mighty Putty Guy says it will hold up to 350 pounds. Watch the entire commercial and you'll even see Mighty Putty pulling a big rig truck. Seriously.

* After learning about Mighty Putty, you may notice that many rooms on HGTV decorating shows are being painted olive green or gold. I've even heard them use the word "Tuscan". I have not, however, heard anyone say they were trying for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" look, which we recently achieved in our bathroom. But hey - I'm happy that our colors are in style, at least for a few months.

* I would really like to see a moose in the wild. The only moose I have seen in real life was at the Minneapolis zoo. It was so hot on that particular day that the moose was standing in a pond with only the tips of his antlers visible. I should very much like to see the entire moose, please.

* Cinnamon rolls bake much faster if you actually turn on the oven.

* Last year, my word of the year was "ORDER". I didn't do so well with my word of the year. In fact, I've created chaos in some areas. So this year, I'm having a do-over. My word of the year will again be ORDER. In fact, until further notice (or until ORDER is achieved, whichever comes first), my word will be ORDER.

In retrospect, maybe last year I wasn't as committed as I needed to be to the word ORDER. I do recall being concerned with using certain red chipboard letters on the front of my chipboard album and only having so much room for the title. I believe I was missing a few key letters, too, which complicated the operation. Yep, ORDER was about the only word I could spell that would fit. Fine way to determine a life goal, huh?

* Lily loves grapefruit. I've never known a cat to eat grapefruit. But it's slimming, and she could use a little of that, coming off the holiday season.

* I love the word extruded (it's a fancy word for squirted -- well, it's more complicated than that, but you get the idea). Did you know that Cheetos are considered an extruded snack? We saw a History Channel program yesterday about snack foods and they showed Cheetos being extruded. Seriously, the extruded Cheetos (before cutting) were four or five feet long! I am not lying! Get this: The guy who fixed the small holes in our countertop told me that solid surface countertops are extruded, too. That's what causes the occasional air bubble which results in tiny holes. If Cheetos and countertops are extruded, it makes a person wonder what else might be, too. Don't you wonder about that? I certainly do.

* White acrylic paint by Making Memories can substitute for White Out, should you make a mistake when writing something. Came up with this all by myself. So there!

* And finally, in a recent discovery, if you drop your crock pot (containing food) and it shatters, you can pretty much bet that tiny pieces will fly everywhere, and some will stay inside the crock pot. In general, it's not a good idea to serve a dinner containing shards of pottery.

In fact, that last point would make a very good, hopefully achievable, New Year's resolution: No dinners containing shards of pottery in 2008, as much as I love the word "shards".

How about it?

Every Week project

Back in April, Danelle Johnson taught a few classes at the store where I teach. The owners asked her to host a special class just for the staff, and I was very excited to attend. In addition to being super-creative, Danelle is a genuine, down-to-earth kind of person. If you ever get a chance to attend one of her workshops, don't miss it!

Danelle's project, called "Every Week" consists of a 54-page chipboard album into which you place a photo each week of the year (there are a couple of extra pages for the covers). On the flip side of each page is space for journaling about the photo. In class, we used her acrylic stamps and matching paper line to create the journaling side of each page. The project was completely free-form...you designed your own pages using a set of products and tools.

After the workshop, I decided to hold onto the album until the beginning of this year to start adding photos. I set it aside in my overflowing basket of "Projects to Complete Someday" and completely forgot about it until yesterday morning when I happened to be reading about the 365 Project, a challenge in which you take a photo a day. Reading about that project prompted me to remember Danelle's album, just sitting there. It was actually perfect timing!

So I pulled it out, dusted it off, and finished up the cover (using up old stuff, thank you very much!). Now I'm all ready to go. What a great feeling to have a project ready for photos. More to come on this as we progress through the year!